Penguins make it a hard day for Sound Tigers, Poulin

Updated 12:05 am, Monday, November 5, 2012

BRIDGEPORT -- There have been plenty of great days for Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie Kevin Poulin over the past three seasons, where he has bailed out his team. Sunday was one he's ready to put behind him quickly.

"It's obviously not my best game. I know it. I didn't give the team a chance to win," Poulin said.

"We responded in the third. I just lost focus in the second."

Attendance was 8,525 for the second day in a row. The team gave away tickets Friday and Saturday to both weekend games as a gesture to the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch gave a brief speech before the game thanking policemen, firemen and utility workers for their efforts in the past week.

The teams traded goals in the first. In the second, Thompson beat Poulin from the left wing, off the crossbar and in on a shot Poulin felt he could've stopped, at 8:00 to break the tie.

At 12:41, Thompson, on an odd-man rush, looked to Brian Gibbons on his right, saw a defenseman blocking the way, and snapped a shot through Poulin.

"He faked a pass, shot. It hit my glove and went in," Poulin said. "After that, I was just trying to do too much."

That let Thompson snap a soft shot from the right-wing boards through Poulin in the last minute of the period.

"We all have those situations," Bridgeport coach Scott Pellerin said. "As a team, we're all in this together. I mentioned before about pulling on the rope ... helping each other out. He had a tough night."

The Penguins had the better of that second period, coincidentally, more often when they didn't score than when they did. They got the puck deep on Bridgeport and kept it there for long stretches.

The Sound Tigers responded in the third with 19 shots, scoring two around a Gibbons breakaway goal, but Jeff Zatkoff (37 saves) made several big stops to keep it from becoming a game again.

The loss put an end to a long week, with a road trip last weekend; an evacuation to Springfield, Mass., to avoid the storm that left several players' rental houses damaged; and Saturday's emotional win over Hershey.

"We talked before the game, and the message was `consistency,'" Pellerin said. "The challenge was, can you do it again?" Sunday wasn't their day.

"I'm not going to (hang) my head, drag this loss forever," Poulin said. "It's done. We have a game Wednesday. It's done."